We'll Call it a Compromise
by LaerwenMithAnarion
Summary: "So the question is, do you trust your emotions enough to let them out, or do you keep them bottled up and continue to hurt someone precious to you?" "I never said he was precious to me." "You didn't have to."
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, so it's been a long time since I've tried writing a fic and because I have a bad habit of giving up on or forgetting fics that I'm writing, I've already finished this fic before posting any of it. There are going to be 9 chapters and I'll post them weekly just because I'm mean. **

**Anyways, thanks for reading this and I hope you like it!**

Raven groaned and rolled over as the alarm blared loudly throughout the tower. She rolled off the bed in a heap of blankets and silently cursed whichever villain thought it would be a good idea to wake her up at 2:30 in the morning. Having slept in her leotard, she simply grabbed her cloak as she stumbled out of her room.

"Who do I have to kill?" She asked in her usual monotone when she reached the lounge.

"It's Plasmus." Robin growled as he ran for the door. The rest of the titans followed obediently and climbed into the T-car.

"Dude!" Beast Boy whined. "How many times do we have to fight that oversized booger?" He was squished between Raven and Starfire in the back of the car since Robin beat him to the front.

"It is difficult to keep him from awakening." Starfire said soothingly. "It is not his fault that he is not human when he is awake."

"Well, I agree with Beast Boy." Raven replied. "Don't get used to it. But I'm sick of fighting the same giant blob over and over again. Can't we just slip him one-to-many sleeping pills and be done with it?"

"Raven, we're superheroes." Robin said sternly. "We don't kill."

"Whatever."

Raven crossed her arms in irritation. She tried not to show it on her face, but she could feel her eye twitch a couple of times. She also felt Beast Boy watching her carefully and leaning slightly away.

"Raven?" He began carefully. "It's fine. We blast him a couple of times, knock him out good, and be home in a few minutes tops."

"Whatever."

"Either way, I'm gunna kick his ass good for wakin' me up at this ungodly hour." Cyborg commented from the drivers seat.

The rest of the ride was silent, the following battle was routine, and the titans were back home by three. Raven hadn't said anything, but it didn't escape her notice that everything went exactly as Beast Boy had said it would. She watched as he bid everyone goodnight and headed to his room. Raven made herself some tea and watched as Cyborg locked up the tower and Robin kissed Starfire goodnight, then she was alone.

Despite being woken up so crudely, she was now wide-awake and didn't feel like sleeping. Raven walked up to the roof to meditate and her heart almost jumped out of her mouth when she saw a shadowy figure sitting on the edge. She took a deep breath and pushed down her emotions when she realized it was just Beast Boy.

"I thought you went to bed." She said, sitting down next to him. She could tell he hadn't heard her come up because he jumped so high that he almost fell off the roof.

"R-Raven. I didn't expect you to say anything. You're usually so quiet, I figured you'd just come up here to meditate and would just ignore me."

"You heard me come up?" She asked, accidentally allowing herself to sound surprised. "I thought you hadn't."

"Oh… I have better ears than other people, but I just heard the door open and close. I… um smelled you." He looked away embarrassed.

"Oh." Raven felt her cheeks heat up. "I hadn't realized that I smelt that bad. Sorry."

"No, it's not that. I have a better nose than other people, too. And everybody has a distinctive smell." He was rushing his words, hoping not to offend her. "I just recognized your smell. You smell fine."

"Thanks…" Raven replied lamely. "So… why aren't you asleep?"

"Um… I don't really want to talk about it."

Raven looked at him sympathetically as he stared at the water below them. As an empath, she could feel his emotions. That's what she loved about him and Starfire. Both of them wore their hearts on their sleeves and their emotions rolled off of them in waves. All she had to do was stand in the same room as them and wade in their ever constant and powerful emotions. However, at that moment she was being washed in the overwhelming despair that was flowing from the little green boy sitting next to her.

"Beast Boy, have I ever told you that I could feel other people's emotions?" His gaze snapped to her, the panic clear on his face and in his emotions. "You don't have to talk about it, but just know that I'm here when you want to. You're not alone either, you know."

"Thanks, Raven." He paused for a second, as if debating his next words. "You know… those comforting words sound weird in your monotone voice." He grinned up at her.

She had to agree with him. It had sounded weird and forced. "I'm just glad you could tell that I was serious and not just saying it to be polite."

"Well of course. We've known each other for years, Raven. I know you love me." He laughed as she hit him. "Ok ok. 'Care about me'. Deeply."

Raven rolled her eyes and stood up. "Your jokes still aren't funny." Lie. "I'm going to go to bed. Feel free to wake me up _only_ if you need to talk about what's bothering you."

"Goodnight, Raven."

"… Goodnight, Beast Boy."


	2. Chapter 2

**OH MY GOD! I GOT REVIEWS! PEOPLE LIKED IT! I'm so insanely excited right now! Well, here's the new chapter as promised. I hope you like this one too!**

Beast Boy paced in front of her door for hours. Or that's what it felt like to him. He had stayed on the roof until the sky started to get lighter, hinting at the rising sun. He knew he needed to talk to someone about this or he would be depressed all day.

He lightly tapped at her door, not really expecting her to hear it, and started to walk down the hall towards his room.

"Beast Boy?"

Beast Boy turned and saw Raven standing in her doorway. "Um, Raven. Hi. I… well, I thought I would take you up on your offer."

Raven didn't say anything, she just gestured that he follow her and turned back into her room. Beast Boy hesitantly followed and stood awkwardly in front of her as she sat on the edge of her bed. "Sit."

He sat next to her obediently, but didn't say anything. He was silent for a while and could tell that Raven was getting impatient even if she wouldn't show it. Raven had thought that he had fallen asleep sitting up, since he hadn't slept all night, and was about to wake him, when he whispered something that she just barely caught.

"Today is the day my parents died."

Beast Boy felt her stiffen. Part of him had hoped she just wouldn't hear him and he could escape this conversation. Then he felt the bed shift as she stood and threw her arms around him. He hugged her back and the sense of calm that washed over him at her touch let loose the waterworks. She rubbed his back as he cried into her chest.

Raven felt completely out of her comfort zone. She had no idea how to handle situations like this. She could feel his pain and knew there was no way to relieve him of it. She just kept holding him until his tears stopped and his breathing returned to normal.

"Your name is Garfield, right?" He nodded, his grip tightening around her waist as if he was afraid she would let go and leave him alone. "Will you tell me more about your childhood?"

He tensed, and pulled away from her. She was about to apologize, but Beast Boy took a deep breath and looked up at her. "My name is Garfield Mark Logan. I used to live with my parents in Africa." She sat down next to him. "They were scientists, researching some rare animal or something. I was really young at the time.

"I… um, I got bit and infected with a rare disease. My parents tried to save me, and the antidote kinda turned me green and gave me the ability to turn into animals. I thought it was the coolest thing to ever happen, but people don't really treat green kids like people… you know? People started looking at me like I was a freak, and none of the adults would let their children play with me.

"I was fine though. I hung out with the animals. Back then I was only able to turn into animals smaller, or as big, as I was." Beast Boy put his head in his hands and sobbed. "T-there was a flood." His voice cracked. "I… was able to save myself, but I should have been able to save them too."

"Beast Boy." Raven forced him to look her in the eyes. "What happened to them was not your fault."

"You can't know that!" Beast Boy yelled. "If only I had practiced turning into bigger birds, I could have carried them out, or I could have taught myself how to turn into a whale and swam them out. I should have done something! I should have at least tried!"

Raven could've explained to him that he had only been a child, but she could see that he had been beating himself up about this since the day it happened and nothing she could say would change that. So instead, she pulled him farther up her bed, and placed the blanket over him. "Try to sleep. I'll bring you some food and you can just stay in bed all day if you want to."

"You don't have to-"

"Beast Boy, you're exhausted." Raven took a handkerchief out of her dresser and wiped the tears off of his cheeks. "Get some sleep. I'll be right back."

Raven went to the kitchen and thought about making him some tofu eggs, but then she remembered the last time she tried to cook and thought better of it. She rummaged through the fridge to find some leftover tofu that she could just heat up for him, and then made them both some tea. By then the rest of the team was awake and getting themselves some breakfast.

"Hey, guys." Raven began. "Beast Boy isn't feeling well today, so I'm going to bring him some food and he may not be down here until later, or not at all. Just… let him sleep and if he wants to come down he will."

"What is wrong with friend Beast Boy?" Starfire cried, flying up to Raven. "Is he ill? Did he do the catching of the flu?"

"He's fine, Star. He's just not feeling well." Raven said, picking up the tray with his food. "He'll be okay tomorrow."

When Raven got back to her room, Beast Boy was sound asleep and surprisingly quiet. She had always assumed that he snored. "Beast Boy? Beast Boy, wake up."

He groaned and cracked an eye open. "Hmm?"

"I've brought you some food and tea."

"Tea?"

"It's calming." Beast Boy didn't look convinced, but he ate his tofu and drank his tea silently and gave Raven the best smile he could manage. Raven could feel that his depression hadn't gone down any, but at least he wasn't exhausted anymore. "Is there anything you want?"

"Actually… I was thinking I would go visit the Doom Patrol. You know, spend some time with my adoptive parents. I just really need a mom right now."

"Ok, Do you want me to get you there quickly? I know my powers creep you out, but it would be faster than flying."

"Thanks, Raven." Raven opened up a portal, and watched as Beast Boy walked through it. She followed, to make sure the portal had opened to the right place, then gave Beast Boy a quick hug and went back to the tower.


	3. Chapter 3

**HI GUYS! I am so so so sorry I haven't updated! My plan was to update once a week, but then I forgot and the next thing I knew I was failing all of my classes, and I'm honestly still failing more than half of them, so I'm just gunna post all of the chapters today. ENJOY! **

Raven went about the day as she normally would. She read in the lounge for a while, meditated on the roof, trained for an hour, and then she retreated to the comfort of her room to read and meditate some more. It wasn't until late in the afternoon that she realized why she had felt so uneasy all day. On any normal day there would have been multiple disturbances in her daily routine. With Beast Boy gone it was unusually quiet and it made Raven twitch occasionally, or tense in preparation for the oncoming noise that never came.

She couldn't stand the silence. Slowly, Raven closed her book and went down to the garage where she knew Cyborg would be working on his car.

"Hey, Cyborg."

"Raven!" Cyborg exclaimed, surprised. "What's up? Missin' little ol' me?" Raven almost cracked a smile, which didn't go unnoticed by the half-robot. "What can I do ya for?"

"Actually, I was a little bored. I thought that you might want a little help?"

"Thanks for the offer, Rae, but I kinda like workin' alone."

"Okay. See you later then."

Raven then went to Starfire's room, hoping to at least be dragged to the "mall of shopping" or whatever new girly pass-time Star had found. She was about to knock on the door when she noticed some… rather inappropo sounds and emotions coming from the other side of the door. She realized she didn't need to go looking for Robin.

With a sigh, she returned to the darkness of her room. She hadn't noticed when she had come to depend on Beast Boys constant disturbances to get her through the day. She also hadn't noticed that she spent so much more time with him than any of the other Titans.

Ever since Robin and Starfire had begun dating, they had distanced themselves from the rest of the group. The others had understood that they needed alone time as a couple, and probably didn't even realize they were distancing themselves, but that didn't change the fact that they were too focused on each other to pay attention to the rest of their friends. Cyborg was a more social type of person. He enjoyed going out and making new friends and meeting new people, and when he was at home he was with his car or playing video games with Beast Boy.

Beast Boy was social, like Cyborg, but he usually stuck within his designated social circle. Raven had never asked why. She didn't need to. Beast Boy just didn't like feeling like a freak. It was a feeling that Raven understood completely, and not just because she had felt him feel it. No matter what they did they would be different. Sure people loved and idolized the Titans, but they still treated them like outsiders. Like freaks.

And so, Raven often found herself alone in the tower with Beast Boy. He would get lonely with Cyborg off with his new girl, Sarah, and would come banging on her door. Several times she found herself dragged to the lounge with a video game controller glued to her hands.

She had given up on trying to meditate, and just laid back on her bed. She thought about going downstairs and just turning on the ridiculous mega monkey something video game that Beast Boy loved, just for a sense of normalcy, but decided against it. It would be difficult to explain if anyone walked in.

She had almost decided to just go to sleep early when her communicator buzzed. "Hello?"

"Raven?" Beast Boys voice cracked. He sounded like he had been crying most of the day. "C-can you –"

"Of course, give me a second." Raven said into the communicator, and then opened a portal and pulled Beast Boy through it. Her mouth twitched into an almost smile, and then quickly went back to the emotionless expression it always had. Beast Boy looked emotionally exhausted again. "Do you want to go down for dinner, or just go to sleep?"

"I… think I'm just going to go sleep." Beast Boy wouldn't look her in the eye, and she could feel his confusion and slight panic mixed with something else she couldn't place. She was about to ask him what was wrong when he interrupted her with a quick hug. "Thanks for everything, Rae. See you tomorrow."

She watched as he practically ran out of her room.


	4. Chapter 4

Beast Boy was freaking out. Of course, all it took was one little trip to see his mother and now he was in a full-blown panic.

The trip started out normal. When his parents saw him, they knew exactly what was wrong, and Rita embraced him and waved Steve away. Rita guided him over to the sofa and just sat with him as he cried, and then whispered comforting words into his ear.

When his tears subsided, she began telling him what had happened within the Doom Patrol since the last time they spoke. She also wanted to know all about the Teen Titans and what had been happening in his life. She never mentioned his real parents, or asked him if he wanted to talk about it. She knew he would talk if he wanted to.

After several hours of just catching up and heaps of junk food, Rita asked, "How did you get here? We never heard you coming or anything. You just sort of popped up out of no where."

"Oh, um, my friend Raven can make these portal thingies, and so she helped me get here."

"Oh! Your friends know about today then?"

"Um… not really. Only Raven. She kinda sensed my emotions or something, and so I told her all about… you know. She's a really good person."

"Raven, hmm? She's the witch, right?"

"Um… I don't think she likes being called a witch."

"Sorry. I don't know about her, though. I didn't get very good vibes from her when I met your new team."

"She's just not good around new people. She's kinda shy, in a way. But once she gets used to you, she's really loyal and kind and she'll try her best to keep you from getting hurt, even if she does it in a way that doesn't show that she actually cares." Beast Boy hadn't realized that he had been smiling while describing his empathetic friend.

"I see." Rita responded, examining her adoptive son carefully. "So that's how it is."

"That's how what is?" Beast Boy asked, completely innocently.

"Aw, my little boy is all grown up, aren't you?" Rita cooed. "Is she your first love, or have there been any others?"

"What!" Beast Boy yelled, falling off the couch. "Love? Who? What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. You haven't realized it for yourself yet."

"I-I am not in love with Raven! That's ridiculous! She's Raven!"

"Oh dear, you are so adorable!" Rita helped him up from the floor and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sure if you really think about it you'll understand. Do you notice her whenever she enters the room?"

"Um…"

"You've memorized her scent, haven't you?"

"Well…"

"Your heart jumps when she looks at you, or touches you?"

"… Mom! Please, I am not in love with Raven."

Beast Boy slumped into the bottom bunk of his bed in Titans Tower. His heart had skipped when Raven pulled him through her portal. He even hugged her to make sure, and was sure she could feel his heart beating insanely.

Beast Boy wouldn't acknowledge this feeling as love, though. It was just a result of his conversation with his mother. He only hoped that Raven couldn't feel it and identify it faster than he could.

"Damn it, Mom."


	5. Chapter 5

Beast Boy had been ignoring Raven for days, ever since he got back from visiting his parents. She knew it had something to do with that new, and somewhat familiar, emotion of his. She wanted it to stop, but she didn't know how to go about confronting him. Just knocking on his door would be too forward and would make it too obvious how much she really cared about how he treated her. She huffed, and decided that what she really needed was some herbal tea.

When she reached the lounge, she froze. There it was, again. That weird new emotion that she had felt from Beast Boy, only this time it was slightly different. She did a quick scan of the area for the little green boy, who she assumed the emotion was coming from, but he was no where to be seen.

That was when she noticed Starfire and Robin. They were sickeningly cute as they made their breakfast together, giggling and flirting the whole time. And they were practically swimming in that new emotion. Raven's jaw almost dropped when she realized why that emotion had been strangely familiar when she felt it on Beast Boy.

It was love.

She had always felt it underneath all of the other emotions whenever Star and Robin where in the same room. And now Beast Boy was feeling it. Around her? Raven didn't understand how to deal with this. She knew she should feel flattered, or something along that line, however Raven hadn't ever let herself feel her own emotions and didn't even know if she could feel that way.

She never had random fluctuations in her own emotions like other people did when they were in love, so she knew that she didn't reciprocate the feeling, but she wondered, if she could feel would she? If she had her own feelings and just let them run wild like everyone else would she feel that way about Beast Boy too?

Raven blinked. What was the point in asking herself "what if's"? No matter what would happen if she could feel, she wouldn't ever have the luxury of finding out. Her emotions were dangerous. She couldn't forget that just because a boy noticed her. Not even if the boy was Beast Boy.

She quickly made her tea, rushed over to Beast Boys room, and knocked loudly. When Beast Boy cracked open the door, she pushed her way into his room.

"R-Raven? What are you –"

"Listen, Beast Boy. I realize that you are confused and experiencing some new emotions, but you cant keep avoiding me like this. We're a team."

"You… you know about the feelings, then?"

"I do." Raven realized that she was being a bit cruel, but she couldn't do anything about his feelings or her own lack of feelings.

"Then can you tell me what they are? Cause I have no idea." Beast Boy sounded like he had given up. "Well, I have an idea, it's my moms idea, but it's completely ridiculous."

"I could tell you… but you wont like it."

"Oh god, it's the same as my mom said isn't it?" Beast Boy dropped dramatically to the ground, and put his head in his hands.

"I'm sorry, Garfield. My emotions are dangerous, so I cant feel the same way about you."

Beast Boy flinched and gave a puppy-like whimper. "Please don't treat me differently." He had whispered it so softly that Raven almost didn't hear it.

She quickly knelt down next to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Beast Boy, you're my best friend. I'm not going to hold this against you."

He surprised her by wrapping her in a tight bear hug. Literally. He had turned into a big fluffy green bear and wrapped her in his big arms. She hesitated before returning the hug briefly and then pushing away.

Beast Boy resumed his human form and grinned at her lopsidedly. "We should get everybody together for a movie night."

Raven rolled her eyes and stood up. "Do I have to join?"

"Of course! And if you get scared, don't bottle it up like last time, because that was the creepiest thing that has ever happened to any of us!" Beast Boy grabbed her wrist and dragged her to the lounge. "Hey, dudes! Movie night!"

"Sweet!" Cyborg yelled from the couch. "What're we watchin' this time? Action? Adventure? Horror?"

"Definitely horror!"


	6. Chapter 6

Raven realized what was happening early on. Ever since she had confronted Beast Boy about his feelings for her, he had tried to get an emotional response out of her. He started with the easiest emotions, making her watch scary movies to get her to show her fear, telling his lame jokes to try to get her to feel happy, and doing everything he knew she hated to get her to show her irritation.

However, after a couple of weeks, she noticed he would also do subtle things like sit a little closer to her than normal, smile softly at her, or "accidentally" touch her. At first she just noticed something was slightly off, but then his hand grazed against hers as he reached for something on the table and she realized that was the fifth time it had happened.

Not only that, but she noticed that she almost never got hit when they were fighting and that Beast Boy got hit twice as much. She sighed as she placed a healing hand on his thigh. "This is happening every time we fight, Beast Boy." She scolded, as she removed her hand from his leg. It didn't go unnoticed by the empath that his ears drooped a little. "I'm a big girl. I can take a hit. You don't have to protect me, Garfield."

Beast Boy just grinned at her. He wouldn't tell her, because he knew she wouldn't like it, but he kind of enjoyed getting hurt for her. He couldn't help chuckling at his own masochistic tendencies. Plus, he used it as an excuse to get her to touch him. He knew that his was a lost cause, but he couldn't help it. He just liked being useful to her.

She frowned at him, obviously sensing his pleasure, and turned to leave the room. He didn't want her to leave him yet, but he couldn't force her to stay. So, instead of doing something stupid and making her mad, he just watched her leave the room and willed himself to stay where he was.

Beast Boy sighed dramatically and fell back onto the couch. "Dude, you got it bad." He turned and saw Cyborg looking at him sympathetically. "Are you gunna tell her how you feel?"

Beast Boy blushed furiously. "Sh-she already knows. I was rejected."

"Ouch. Sorry ta hear that, grass stain." Cyborg sat next to him and grabbed a controller. "Bet gettin' your ass kicked will take your mind off it."

"Oh, you are so on!" Beast Boy grabbed the other controller and hoped Cyborg was right.


	7. Chapter 7

Raven leaned against her door and sighed. He was hurting because of her. Sure he got a strange sense of pleasure whenever he took one of her hits, and when he deliberately annoyed her just to get an emotional reaction from her, but underneath it all was a dull ache that pierced her heart whenever she was in the same room as him.

She decided to use her mirror to consult her emotions and see if there was a way to work things out without either hurting Beast Boy emotionally or letting her emotions loose and hurting everyone around her physically and probably psychologically.

Once inside, she quickly turned in the direction of Knowledge's domain. It didn't take long for her to come upon an archway that opened into a large library. "Knowledge?"

"You want to know what to do about Beast Boy being in love with you." Came her own voice from behind a tall stack of books by the fireplace.

"Yes."

"You don't want to hurt him, but you still refuse to let us out."

"You know why I can't let you out."

"Indeed." Her emoticlone stood from her seat behind the mountain of books and moved around them to stand in front of Raven. "I can only tell you what you already know. If you want to know the correct course of action, you must consult with Wisdom. We are not one and the same, you know."

"Where can I find her?"

"She prefers to stay in the parts of your mind that you don't frequent, near Sloth and Rude. She's needed there, to keep them both in line."

"Where are they?"

"In the opposite direction of Happy, Brave, and Timid."

Without a word, Raven turned and headed in the direction she was told. She knew when she had gotten to Sloths territory because it looked like the city dump. There was trash everywhere and weird stains that she couldn't even begin to place. Lying on top of the largest pile of trash was Sloth, snoring loudly. There was a river of drool running from her mouth down the side of the pile of trash and Raven couldn't help but grimace in disgust.

Raven decided against asking her where Wisdom was, and continued on her way into Rude's territory. She was greeted with a large burp right in her face, and had to make a conscious effort not to hit her emoticlone.

"Where can I find Wisdom?"

"Hell if I know." Rude yawned and scratched her armpit absent-mindedly. "'s not my job to keep tabs on 'er."

Raven's eye twitched, and she silently fumed at her own rudeness. She was about to start yelling, but her own voice stopped her. "You are looking for me?"

Raven turned towards the voice and recognized the calm demeanor the Wisdom radiated. "Er… yes. I need to know what to do about Beast Boy."

"Ah, right. The ever pressing question of whether or not to trust your emotions."

"No, just how do I not hurt him while suppressing my emotions?"

"You already know the answer to that, Raven."

Raven sighed. This was so frustrating that she wanted to just cry, but instead she gave the response she knew Wisdom wanted to hear. "I can't not hurt him while suppressing my emotions."

"Exactly. So the question is, do you trust your emotions enough to let them out, or do you keep them bottled up and continue to hurt someone precious to you?"

"I never said he was precious to me." Raven said defensively.

"You didn't have to." Wisdom said, calmly. "You also have the emotion called Love. And she has proclaimed that Garfield is very precious to her."

"So… you're saying that I'm in love with Beast Boy?"

"No. The only way for you to be in love with Beast Boy is to allow yourself to feel love. And to feel love, you have to trust your emotions and let go, allowing Love to take over when you are near him."

"I can't let go. My emotions are dangerous."

"Then I can not help you. The only way to not hurt Beast Boy is to feel for him as he feels for you."


	8. Chapter 8

The rest of the team had started to avoid her, and she couldn't blame them. Ever since her talk with Wisdom, Raven had been extra irritable, especially to Beast Boy and Starfire. She knew she was being irrational, but it was not fair how they could both wear their emotions so openly and it only helped them and the people around them.

She wanted so much to not have to work so hard at bottling up her emotions only to still hurt the people she cared for. She stayed in her room most days and only left it to eat and fight crime. The crime rate had dropped as well, once the villains noticed her change in attitude caused her to be ruthless in battle.

Most days she just stared at her ceiling, not doing or thinking anything at all. It was strangely more calming than meditating. In meditation, she sometimes got disturbing premonitions or her mind would wonder into unwanted thoughts and memories. However, just staring at the white nothingness of her ceiling allowed her to just be still and silent.

There was a soft knock on her door. Raven slowly turned towards the offending noise and considered ignoring it, but after a couple minutes she stood and opened the door to reveal a nervous looking Robin.

"Um, hi Raven." Robin started, awkwardly. "Can we talk?"

"Sure." Raven replied, emotionlessly stepping to the side to let him in.

"Um, no. With the whole team."

Raven stiffened. She didn't mind being around Robin, he hid his emotions almost as well as she did. Finally, she nodded once and followed Robin to the lounge where the rest of the Titans were waiting for her.

They sat her down on the couch and looked at each other, silently arguing over who would begin. Starfire lost. "Friend Raven… something is troubling you?" She asked in her innocent way of speaking.

"Nothing is troubling me, Starfire."

"Um, no offence, Rae, but you've kinda been wound a little tight lately." Cyborg said, hesitantly.

"I'm sorry."

Beast Boy wouldn't look at her. His ears were turned down and his posture was slumped and defeated. Raven realized that he blamed himself for how she had been acting. She wanted to tell him that he was wrong, and it was her own fault, but she had distanced herself so far from her emotions that she couldn't really find the way to say it.

"Raven, you're like a sister to me. I want you to be happy, and if we can help you know that we will all do anything we can." Robin said gently, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"My problem has no solution, Robin." Raven said plainly. "Whichever way I choose, I hurt people. The path that I chose hurts less people than the one I didn't choose."

"What problem? What choice?" Robin asked.

"I chose not to trust my emotions. They are dangerous and only cause destruction."

Beast Boy tensed. He knew this was his fault. He couldn't bring himself to look up at her, not while she hated him. He should probably just leave the Titans. It would solve all of her problems, and maybe his too after a while. Maybe he could forget this ever happened. He got over Terra, so getting over Raven would be just as easy, right?

Wrong. Terra had only ever been a romantic interest. Raven had been a friend.

"Don't you dare."

Beast Boy's gaze snapped to Ravens face and was surprised to find himself staring right into her hard, determined eyes. "What?"

"Don't you give up, Beast Boy. If you're thinking about leaving to make things easier than you're a bigger idiot than I always said you were."

"I don't –"

Raven stood and walked up to him. "It's not your fault. It's mine. I cant just let go so easily like you and Starfire. My emotions kill. The only way I can stop hurting you is to let go of my emotions, but if I do that then I hurt everybody. The way I chose, only you and I get hurt. That's my fault, not yours. If anyone should have to leave, it's me."

"Raven, what's going on?" Robin asked, sternly.

"I asked my emotions if there was a way to not hurt Beast Boy while suppressing my emotions and they said no."

"Raven…" Beast Boy whispered. "You don't have to worry about hurting me. I just… didn't want you to act differently around me."

"Please, I do not understand. Friends Beast Boy and Raven are hurting?" Starfire asked, worriedly.

"I'm not sure what's happening either, Starfire." Robin responded. Raven could tell that he was frustrated that he didn't know what was happening.

"Ok, here's what's happenin'. The grass stain got the hots for Rae, but Rae turned him down, probably 'cause of this whole 'suppressing her emotions' thing, and both of them are confused and hurtin' because they like each other but Raven doesn't want to hurt everyone around her by letting go of her emotions." Cyborg summed it up, looking somewhat proud that he was the only one to have kept up with all of it.

Starfire gasped. "Friends Raven and Beast Boy are in love? Oh, this is a most glorious occasion, is it not?"

"Wait, you –" Beast Boy started, but was cut off by Robin.

"Raven, if you need help learning to open up about these things, Starfire has been helping me and I'm much better at expressing myself now."

"That's not the probl –"

"Yeah! And if you need someone to help you have a good time, I know some wicked fun hot spots in the city." Cyborg cut in.

"That's not the point!" Raven yelled, and something nearby shattered. "I cant open up because I destroy things."

"I don't think you need to open up, Raven." Beast Boy said, radiating happiness. Apparently he had been focusing on the fact that Raven didn't deny Cyborgs claim that she liked him back. "I think you're just like you're supposed to be." Raven relaxed a little and gave him one of her almost smiles. "That and it would be way freaky to see you acting like Star."

Raven rolled her eyes. Of course it would end up like this.


	9. Chapter 9

Beast Boy was ecstatic. He didn't need a large declaration of love, or even open affection. He knew that wasn't Ravens style. Just to know that she liked him back was enough for him.

She had gone back to treating him like an idiot, but he didn't mind. She no longer scooted away from him when he sat too close, and she wouldn't pull away when he held her hand. He was even able to hug her more often and only received slight glares.

Raven stayed silent about every little show of affection he threw at her, and he knew it wasn't because she was annoyed but because she was enjoying it, even if she wouldn't show it. After years of pushing her buttons, he could easily tell that she was as comfortable with him touching her as he was.

On movie nights, Beast Boy would hold her hand and cuddle up next to her, and she would give him one of her soft gazes that almost melted into a smile whenever he would trace random patterns on the palm of her hand. Beast Boy would grin when she would fall asleep against his shoulder in the middle of the movie and would stay there next to her all night so that she wouldn't wake up alone.

The only thing she would reprimand him for was when he would try to protect her during fights. He would grin up at her as she healed him, and she would frown at him, seeing that he wouldn't stop no matter what she said.

"Why do you do that?" She asked once.

"Cause I don't like seeing you get hurt." Beast Boy shrugged.

She hit him lightly on the head. "Well, stop."

"Nah."

She sighed and plopped down next to him on the couch. "Beast Boy, if you keep blindly running in front of every punch, beam, glob of goo, or whatever the villain decides to throw at me, one day someone's going to throw something fatal."

"You're asking me to just stand there as something 'fatal' comes hurling at you?" Beast Boy asked, suddenly serious.

"Yes."

"No."

"I don't want you to die for me, Garfield!"

"I don't want you to die either, Raven!"

"Well, if I cant get out of the way in time, it's my problem not yours!"

"Raven, even if I wasn't in love with you I would take a bullet for you and you know that. I wont lose anyone else."

Raven froze. All she could do was stare at the green boy in front of her, as his anger and determination radiated off of him. He was serious. He would rather die than lose anyone else that he loved.

"Raven…" Beast Boy started, calmly. "I'll try to be more careful, but I'm not going to stop protecting you."

Raven threw her arms around him and held him tightly. Beast Boy hugged her back, and Raven could feel his anger subsiding. His determination, however, only got stronger.

Beast Boy was blushing furiously. She hardly ever initiated the hugs, and never ones that lasted this long. It was a little embarrassing knowing that she could literally feel how happy he was right now, but he didn't dwell on it. It just felt so good to hold her like this. He contemplated kissing her, but he'd never done that before and didn't know if that would be going to far for her.

Apparently Raven could sense what he wanted, because she pulled away and said, "It's okay, I don't mind."

"Seriously?" Raven nodded. Beast Boy couldn't contain his excitement. He was practically bouncing in his seat. It took a few minutes before he could calm down and then a few more before he could work up the nerve.

It was slow and awkward, and Beast Boy was suddenly very aware of his protruding fang. When he pulled away he turned away from her, but Raven could hardly breathe in his overwhelmingly joyous emotions and knew that his face was probably bright red (or whatever color it would turn with his green skin).

She was glad he wasn't looking because for the first time she could remember, her mouth broke into a real, happy smile.


End file.
